Game in a sentence

A dull match in Southern France explodes in the final seconds as Marseille score late to take a massive advantage into the second leg and pile further pressure on Claudio Ranieri at Inter.

Observations

• This was a match between two teams who didn’t believe in their own attacking abilities enough to take hold of the game until Andre Ayew popped up to head home his 14th goal of the season deep into stoppage time.
• Inter Milan’s issues have been well documented and were all to see once again on this night in Southern France. They simply have lost the ability to create chances that lead to goals. Claudio Ranieri sent his team out in a 4-4-1-1 and the instructions were clear: Keep it tight, don’t concede and try and sneak a goal on the counter or through a Marseille mistake.
• Didier Deschamps had the same thought, despite his team playing at home. With the game seemingly heading to a scoreless draw many may have questioned the Frenchman’s tactics but even at 0-0 its hard to argue when you look at Marseille’s record away from home in the Champions League. They’ve been excellent away side in Europe this season and in fact saved their best three performances in the group stages for when they were away from home, netting seven of a possible nine points from Group F. It was clear they wanted to go to Milan for the tie in three weeks without giving their opponents a key away goal.
• However, they will be lucky to find Inter in such awful form once again. The Italian giants are in a desperate state at the moment and spent the 90 minutes desperate to get on the plane back home with 0-0 in their pockets. They were 30 seconds away from achieving their goal.
• Wesley Sneijder started the game in left midfield inside a 4-4-1-1 and later was pushed up alongside Diego Forlan, after the ineffective (again) Mauro Zarate was removed, in what was effectively a 4-4-2-0. The Dutchman had little involvement in the game though and was tracked everywhere he went by the excellent Alou Diarra. The French international even sat inside a five man defence when Sneijder pushed up alongside Forlan in what was a real signal of intent by the defensive-minded Deschamps.
• Marseille finally got out of second gear when Jordan Ayew came on and there reward for an adventurous final ten minutes was their winning goal.
• Inter have now gone over six hours without scoring and head home for the second leg where they have already lost to Trabzonspor and CSKA Moscow in this competition. The late goal conceded may actually help them as the pressure will surely be on them to take the attack to Marseille and get the goal(s) that will be needed for them to make the last eight. They were 30 seconds away from being favourites in the second leg, but Ayew’s late winner now means pressure will continue to mount on Ranieri will have to re-think his strategy as he goes toe-to-toe again with Deschamps. That’s if he remains in charge until then of course.

Match Stats

Three Stars

1. Alou Diarra
2. Benoit Cheyrou
3. Andre Ayew

Kristian Jack